Evolution of health-related quality of life two to seven years after retropubic radical prostatectomy: evaluation by UCLA prostate cancer index.

To determine changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients treated with retropubic radical prostatectomy (RP) between two and seven years after surgery. A questionnaire from the University of California Los Angeles Prostate Index was sent to 142 patients previously treated with retropubic RP as mono-therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Patients were divided into five groups according to time from surgery. Demographics, clinical and pathological characteristics of patients were compared between these groups. Correlation coefficients controlled for age at the time of questionnaire between HRQOL scores and time from RP were assessed. A total of 105 patients (74%) returned the questionnaire. The mean time from surgery was 48 months (range 25-84). Demographics, clinical and pathological characteristics of patients were not statistically different between time groups. Several recoding items were found to decrease significantly with the time from RP including physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health problem, vitality, and general health. In contrary, urinary, bowel and sexual scores were not significantly correlated to time from RP. Although sexual, urinary and bowel scores seem to remain stable from 2 to 7 years following RP, general health appears to significantly deteriorate with time after RP, independent of the patient's age at the time of the questionnaire.